Episode 145: Hear the Dance: Ballade
City Ballet The Podcast
Hear the Dance host Silas Farley returns for a deep-dive discussion with former Principal Dancer Merrill Ashley and Repertory Director Glenn Keenan on George Balanchine's Ballade, a ballet returning to the NYCB stage after a hiatus of more than 20 years. Keenan shares that when she was a student at the School of American Ballet, Ashley's "humongous care and attention" as a teacher helped shape her approach to her current role, and that watching Ashley in the studio today has been both helpful and inspiring. Ashley recalls the surprise of learning that Balanchine had chosen to make this first...
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Episode 144: New Combinations: Heatscape
City Ballet The Podcast
A brand-new season of City Ballet The Podcast launches today with a fresh New Combinations conversation between Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan and Resident Choreographer Justin Peck. Commissioned by Miami City Ballet a decade ago, Peck is in the midst of rehearsing his Heatscape for its NYCB stage debut, with the help of original dancers and coaches Michael Sean Breeden, Patricia Delgado, and Jeannette Delgado. He shares what drew him to Bohuslav Martinů's Piano Concerto No. 1, a piece that both references earlier works and prefigures musical changes to come—an interesting...
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Episode 143: Bonus: 24-25 Season Wrap-Up
City Ballet The Podcast
As we shift gears to prepare for the upcoming season, Artistic Director Jonathan Stafford and Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan take a moment to reflect on our just-concluded 76th year, from two strikingly unique and unforgettable world premieres—from Resident Choreographer Justin Peck and Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky—to the return of cherished repertory works, the invaluable presence of coaches Suzanne Farrell and Merrill Ashley in the rehearsal studios, and much, much more. They celebrate the freedom and boldness the company displayed in notable debuts, well-earned...
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Episode 142: The Rosin Box: Ask the Dancer
City Ballet The Podcast
Join us around the Rosin Box for our annual listener-contributed "Ask the Dancers" episode. Our intrepid hosts Claire and Aarón and special guest Corps de Ballet Member Lars Nelson answer your questions about rehearsal wear, dancing with Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky, remembering steps, and more—including, "Explain dogs at New York City Ballet." (39:06) Edited by Emilie Silvestri Music: "Je ne t’aime plus" by Pink Martini Courtesy of Pink Martini & Heinz Records
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Episode 141: The Rosin Box: Choreographers and their Casts
City Ballet The Podcast
Hosts Claire and Aarón are back at the Rosin Box, joined this week by Principal Dancers Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia to talk about the relationship between choreographer and dancer in the creation of new works—especially in the case of Tiler's Concerto for Two Pianos from 2024, which featured Roman. As they share, the process is like a conversation between artists on both sides of the studio and relies heavily on trust. Tiler highlights the necessary balance between celebrating individual dancers' strengths with making a timeless work, while Roman describes feeling deeply invested in the...
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Episode 140: The Rosin Box: Center Stage
City Ballet The Podcast
The Rosin Box is back with hosts Claire Kretzschmar and Soloist Aarón Sanz delivering insiders' insights into the lives and times of today's NYCB dancers. This week they're joined by Principal Dancer Megan Fairchild, who will be retiring next spring, and Corps de Ballet Member Dominika Afanasenkov, who joined the company just over two years ago. They share what it's like to take center stage, from the nerves and coaching that accompanied their earliest lead roles to taking on a "diva" persona—and the one word that marked a turning point for Megan. (37:47) Edited by Emilie Silvestri Music:...
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Episode 139: New Combinations: When We Fell
City Ballet The Podcast
Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan is back for another exciting New Combinations conversation. This week, she's joined by choreographer Kyle Abraham, whose When We Fell makes its onstage debut this spring after premiering as a dance film in 2021. Abraham shares how this fourth work for NYCB represents both the culmination of relationships he's built with company artists over the years, as well as a departure, in that the score is four minimal, "poetic" piano pieces that encourage a "focused eye." As he shares, part of what makes working with NYCB so special is the opportunity to take...
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Episode 138: See the Music: Divertimento from 'Le Baiser de la Fée'
City Ballet The Podcast
Music Director Andrew Litton invites us to See the Music in this enlightening introduction to the score for George Balanchine's 1972 ballet, Divertimento from ‘Le Baiser de la Fée.' With superlative accompaniment from Solo Pianist Elaine Chelton, Litton demonstrates the many ways in which Igor Stravinsky's "homage to Tschaikovsky" took inspiration from 16 different piano pieces by the legendary composer to weave an undeniably Stravinskian—and danceable, in Balanchine's word—orchestral suite. (11:42): Edited by Emilie Silvestri Music: Symphony in Three Movements (1945) by Igor...
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Episode 137: Hear the Dance: Sonatine
City Ballet The Podcast
Silas Farley returns with another Hear the Dance conversation, focusing this week on the George Balanchine pas de deux Sonatine, choreographed in 1975 as the opening ballet for the company's Ravel Festival. Repertory Director Christine Redpath shares memories of performing in that festival and of watching Sonatine's original dancers Violette Verdy and the late Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, commemorated in this episode by former Principal Dancer Peter Boal, while Principal Dancer Megan Fairchild describes the ways in which this ballet taught her that a single piece can have "many textures." (56:31)...
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Episode 136: Hear the Dance: A Suite of Dances (Part 2)
City Ballet The Podcast
In this second part of our Hear the Dance journey into Jerome Robbins' A Suite of Dances, Cellist Hannah Holman joins host Silas Farley to provide a deep-dive introduction to the Bach Cello Suites that provide the ballet's exquisite score. As Holman explains, the music is a seminal work for every cellist, with complex challenges and varied delights throughout—all of which are complicated and enriched when performed onstage with the work's solo dancer. (42:48) Written by Silas Farley Edited by Emilie Silvestri Music: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major (1931) by Igor Stravinsky...
info_outlineCity Ballet The Podcast returns with a new Hear the Dance episode exploring George Balanchine's Concerto Barocco. Host Silas Farley is joined by three former NYCB dancers whose engagement with this foundational ballet continues today: SAB Senior Faculty Chair Suki Schorer, Balanchine Repetiteur Victoria Simon, and SAB Faculty Member Meagan Mann. Together they trace the highlights and unique demands of Barocco's four distinct movements, describing how the apparent simplicity of the ballet demands plenty of hard work and helps build community amongst the dancers. (1:00:28)
Written by Silas Farley
Edited by Emilie Silvestri
Music:
Concerto in D minor for Two Violins, B.W.V. 1043
by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performed by the New York City Ballet Orchestra
Kurt Nikkanen and Arturo Delmoni, Violin Soloists
Aria with Variations in G, BWV 988 (1742), "The Goldberg Variations"
by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performed by Susan Walters, Pianist
Reading List:
1. Repertory in Review: 40 Years of the New York City Ballet by Nancy Reynolds, with an
Introduction by Lincoln Kirstein
2. Thirty Years: Lincoln Kirstein’s The New York City Ballet by Lincoln Kirstein
3. Balanchine and Kirstein’s American Enterprise by James Steichen
4. Suki Schorer on Balanchine Technique by Suki Schorer and Russell Lee
5. Balanchine Pointework by Suki Schorer
6. Balanchine Then and Now Edited by Ann Hogan
7. Balanchine’s Ballerinas: Conversations with the Muses by Robert Tracy with Sharon DeLano
8. Balanchine the Teacher: Fundamentals That Shaped the First Generation of New York City Ballet
Dancers by Barbara Walczak and Una Kai
9. Balanchine Variations by Nancy Goldner
10. Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven by John Eliot Gardiner